An advocacy lobbying President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to give more youth a chance in his administration is growing in leaps and bounds.

Several activists of the party hold the view that it is the surest way of guaranteeing the future of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).

A scan through social media posts of many NPP activists shows a loud cry for more appointment of young people into government.

They are of the view that persons who served in President John Agyekum Kufuor's government and also served in the first term of President Nana Akufo-Addo should give way to new faces who are young.

“What legacy does the old man want to leave in the party? That he cared less about growth opportunities for the youth?"

“If up to now someone like Alan Kyeremanten, Kan Dapaah, Ambrose Dery, Kofi Ghana, KK Sarpong, et al cannot boast of replacements for their roles, then that's a failure for the party,” one of them wrote on Facebook.

Another Facebook user adds, “They shouldn't just give way, they should resign from ever accepting appointments and get a seat at the party's council of elders auditorium and help shape the party for better!”

“It is long overdue, these old men/women continue to disappoint us...let's give the youth more opportunities and we will certainly do much better....Time to retire the old,” said one man.

With President Akufo-Addo yet to appoint Deputy Ministers, board chairpersons and board members, chief executive officers, metropolitan, municipal and district chief executives, it remains to be seen if the appeal by NPP activists will reflect in the pending appointments.

According to Ghana’s national youth policy (2010), youth is defined as those between 15 and 35 years.

Ghana has a young age structure, with approximately 57% of the population under the age of 25.

According to the 2000 Housing and Population Census, young people constitute about 33.2% of a heterogeneous population aged 15-35 years.

The call by the NPP activists reflects a situation where the youth in Africa feel isolated and underrepresented in governance across the continent.
This is often the case in most parts of the world, but the ratio of under-representation of youth in Africa is high.

In many cases, the younger generation is more knowledgeable, equipped, and prepared to address the fast-moving issues of today than the establishment leadership.

Increasing the share of qualified, highly-skilled youth in electoral offices is an important step to enhance the quality of representation and governance across the continent.

However, to fully unleash the transformative potential of young people, they also need adequate representation in non-elected positions across government institutions.

P.K. Sarpong, one of the many voices advocating a change in course by President Akufo-Addo, writes the following:

Mr. President, let the tired limbs rest.

There’s this phraseology one quickly fell in love with back in the days as young boys and girls which read “The Young Shall Grow”.

It was very inspirational to many young people at the time and even today, it hasn’t lost its soothing effects on the young, up and coming ones.

The New Patriotic Party coming into office in the year 2001 saw the appointments of men and women who steered the affairs of the country. For eight years, these appointees served the country under the John Agyekum Kufuor administration in various capacities.

In 2008, the party exited office as the NDC took over the reins of power for eight years. The NPP came back to office upon winning the 2016 elections.
Though many Ghanaians believed at the time that the old guards had served the country for eight solid years and had to be made to sit outside for new people to be brought in, the President went ahead to appoint many of the people who worked with President John Agyekum Kufuor to man some ministries and other state agencies.

President Akufo-Addo, for good reasons, worked with them for four more years. We are in 2021, another four-year term has begun and these old appointees are still lurking around the corridors of power?

This is demoralizing to the youth of the party. Mr. President should do away with these old guards by appointing new but youthful men and women into these positions.

It is time new energies, ideas and philosophies were injected into this administration by President Akufo-Addo as that is the only way the youth who have gone through the mill would have not only the opportunity to exhibit their innate talents and experiences but also serve as motivational emblems for their peers.

It must be emphasized that these old guards got appointed into office by Kufuor at the same ages the youth of today in the party have attained, so it becomes strange that they are unwilling to give way to the new blood.

Twelve years of serving as appointees are more than enough for anyone to impact positively on the growth and development of this country and, therefore, does not need to be given additional four years.

The law of diminishing returns should act as a guide as we move forward.
In conclusion, we need new blood, new ideas, the youth to be integral parts of this administration.

The old guards have played their roles. Politics, just like life, is a stage, you play your role, exit the scene and then others take over your role to exhibit what they also know or have learnt.

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